Review: Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer & My Under Eye Makeup Routine is SORTED!

I’m always on the look out for a new concealer to cover my under eye circles (which I think can get quite bad), even though It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer was doing a good job. The grass is always greener on the other side eh’? 😛 While I liked the full coverage of the It Cosmetics concealer, because of it’s thick and tacky texture, it can go patchy on you once set with powder (if you use just a tad to much of the concealer – though sometimes you want to build the coverage a little and that’s where it gets temperamental). There’s nothing worse than being happy with your makeup and then having something go patchy on you out of the blue :S Especially in an area you want to hide! A Polish Youtube blogger/makeup artist had been mentioning the Makeup For Ever Full Cover Concealer for aggggges, as her go to concealer for dark under eye circles. I didn’t run out and buy it immediately because the extensive shade range confused me a little since the concealer can also darken a shade when used (so it oxidises slightly). I did also wonder if it was to dry to use under the eyes (it’s not marketed for this purpose per se). Finally, once browsing in Sephora, I came across the concealers and had a little play! The Youtube makeup artist I referred to, uses two shades of the concealer to customise her shade based on the seasons. She uses colours no. 3 and 5. Colour no. 3 is a touch pink and is quite light. No. 5 however, starts to look a little more ‘medium’, with a yellow base. Since I figured it might oxidise also, I decided to look for shade no. 4. Shade no. 4 looked quite neutral (which I love!) and is still quite fair. I decided to bite the bullet and order the one shade (just no. 4 – since it’s a little pricey). Of course Sephora being Sephora, has only a very limited shade range on their website as opposed to their store offering.  I decided to order it from a smaller makeup e-shop – PM Studio – based in Sydney. Am I happy with the concealer? Hell yes! It is SO SO good if you struggle with dark under circles. And I feel like I lucked out, because shade no. 4 is perfect for me! It is neutral all the way. I don’t find that it oxidises either, and if it does, it only does so a touch.

Here is what Make Up Forever promise the concealer will do for you –

Full Cover Concealer is perfect for concealing scars, severe skin damage, beauty spots, depigmentation or birthmarks. It can even hide tattoos. Waterproof and long-lasting, it holds even under extreme conditions thanks to its perfectly stable formlua. It evens out the skin tone and camouflages imperfections for extended periods of time. 

Swatch of shade no. 4 in Make Up For Ever’s Full Cover Concealer

As you can see, it doesn’t mention the under eye area specifically. This could be because the formula ‘sets’ and thus can be drying. Not ideal for the delicate under eye area. It has quite a light creamy texture to it upon application, however. It’s much more pliable upon application, compared to the IT Cosmetics concealer.  The trick here is to use it only if your under eye area is correctly prepped and isn’t *to* dry to begin with (if you have extremely dry skin around your eyes or irritated skin, skip this concealer even if you think you can prep the skin well – there’s no point stressing your skin out until you bring the condition/hydration levels of it back up). If the skin is prepped well and you haven’t applied to much concealer, it will set and cover 90-95% of your under eye circles! That’s bloody amazing in my books! Because it sets and isn’t to emollient, it won’t travel and settle into fine lines. It is for this reason that I skipped Make Up For Ever’s newest under eye concealer (HD Concealer), because I’ve heard it is very emollient. Emollients and hydrators will also unfortunately disperse pigments, so it won’t be full coverage no matter what they claim. It does last all day on me and doesn’t turn patchy after a couple of hours. The only issue I can see, is that if to much is applied (and because the pigments are so rich and dense, a heavy application isn’t needed under the eyes) it will ‘crack’ if you are very expressive and do have quite a few expression lines. This however, can be avoided with careful application!

So how do I prep my skin so that the concealer looks it’s best without drying out the skin around my eyes? Number one is eye cream. As this should be a mandatory step of your morning skincare routine, I won’t spend to much time on this point. In any case, choose an eye cream that suits your skins needs and concerns. An eye cream should give your skin a little bounce and get rid of any dry/flaky areas. Step number two, is to use some sort of under eye makeup primer. I have been using Becca’s Under Eye Brightening Corrector because it is hydrating, fills out any lines I may have and adds the tiniest amount of peach pigments to counter-act darkness. It’s also quite illuminating. Smashbox also do a good under eye makeup primer which is hydrating but doesn’t add any colour to the area (but is a little brightening also). Next, for application, I use a mini Beauty Blender. Because the beauty blender is damp upon use, again, it helps to soften the area, adds a little bit of moisture and makes sure that you don’t apply to much product. Despite the crazy cost of these teeny-tiny sponges (I bought a pack of 4 for about $46? Available only at Sephora), they allow me to get a very even layer of concealer around my eye, with quite a bit of precision!

*Tip* Concentrate your concealer application where your dark circles are (the inner corner of your eyes) and only take a tiny amount of concealer around to the outer eye corner. I always cringe when I see makeup artists take a huge amount of concealer all around the eye, when it just isn’t needed (and this area is so prone to fine and expressive laugh lines!). 

If I bring the concealer down near my nose, so that the concealer blends into my foundation (so there’s no tell-tale signs of where the concealer begins and ends) it blends into my foundation seamlessly. Again, the beauty blender helps with this brilliantly (and I’m only using the left over concealer in the sponge at this point). Next, I set my concealer with a tiny amount of powder. Use the softest and gentlest brush you own, so it doesn’t ‘disturb’  your concealer (Wayne Goss’ ‘Air Brush’ is amaaazing for this – but it was limited edition unfortunately 🙁 I reckon it’ll come back out again though 😉 ). In regards to powder, I use either Ben Nye’s Cameo powder which is finely milled and doesn’t add colour to the area or Australis Cosmetics Banana Powder (so cheap yet so good!) if I’m a little red.

If you need a heavy duty under eye concealer, I can’t recommend this guy highly enough. The concealer isn’t cheap coming in at $48 Aus dollars, but from what I’ve heard, one tube should last you a good year if not more! I just love that I can count on this concealer if I have a big day ahead of me or an event. It isn’t temperamental and it lasts. I haven’t tested it’s waterproof claims, but it lasts all day (12 hours+) without budging on me, so I would assume that these claims probably stack up! This is technically my very first forray into Make Up Forever makeup, so I’m be very interested in the rest of their offerings (especially ‘base’ makeup!). If you have any recommendations for me (products which you love) please do let me know! 🙂

Catch ya next time beauties!

Beauty Bee~

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